Calvert woman indicted on theft scheme, forgery charges

Prince Frederick, MD - A Calvert County grand jury indicted a Chesapeake Beach woman Jan. 23 on 13 counts related to a series of alleged thefts and forgeries that began in early June 2017. Tina Marie Neely, 50 was indicted on one count of theft scheme $10,000 to under $100,000; two counts of theft scheme $1,500 to $25,000; eight counts of forgery private documents, and one count each of stealing another person’s credit card and charging between $1,500 to $25,000 with someone else’s credit card. With the exception of stealing another person’s credit card, all of the charges Neely faces are felonies.

According to court documents filed by Deputy Naughton of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, the victim, who had allowed Neely and her two sons to move into her residence, first reported the allegations last Sept. 11, accusing Neely of “gradually stealing money from her.” The court documents name three accounts from which the money was being taken. Last February the victim received a call from her bank that a check she [the victim] had allegedly written had bounced “due to an irregular signature,” Naughton reported. The check had been written to a vehicle maintenance business. When questioned by the victim, the business owner who provided her with a receipt from the transaction. The invoice, Naughton stated, “came out to Tina Neely in the amount of $569, which is when [the victim] officially confirmed Neely was taking money” for several accounts.

Naughton’s application for statement of charges in the Neely case documented $19,500 worth fraudulent withdrawals Neely is alleged to have made. The deputy’s court statement also chronicles his interview with Neely’s teenage son who explained Neely gave him money to deposit in his bank account and then write Neely checks in order for her to get cash. Naughton stated Neely had told her son the checks she gave to deposit in his account was from her retirement savings. Naughton stated that Neely’s son said “he never received any of the funds from the checks.”

Neely’s initial appearance in Calvert County Circuit Court is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 4. She had been released from jail last October in lieu of $10,000, court documents indicated. The case prosecutor is Assistant State’s Attorney Gary Michael Morgan Jr.